Aberdeen were formed in 1903 by the amalgamation of three clubs: Victoria United, Orion and Aberdeen. This third club, set up by teachers in 1881, had played at various grounds before settling at Pittodrie in 1889.
The ground's name has two possible meanings, the most likely is that the landowner was a Mr Knight Erskine of Pittodrie, an country estate 20 miles north-west of the city, the word can also be interpreted in Celtic as 'place of manure' as the field had once been used by the police as a dung heap.
The opening game was on September 2nd 1899 against Dumbarton and only six months later it staged a Scotland v Wales international. Pittodrie Park (the term stadium as adopted in the 1960s) was reopened after the merger on August 15th 1903 for a Northern League fixture v Stenhousemuir. A year later the club joined the Second Division and would buy the ground for £5,668. After election to Division One, a pavilion was built in the north-east corner and the banking improved.
Pittodrie began to develop during the 1920s with the present Main Stand built in 1925 with a central pedimented roof gable. In 1928 the club bought land opposite the new stand on Pittodrie Street and erected ornamental granite gates which still adorn the Merkland Road end to the west. That end was covered in 1934, and three years later a small wing stand was added in the corner next to the Main Stand where the pavilion had stood.
The most unusual addition in the 1920s came when the club trainer, Donald Colman, who made meticulous notes during games, required a dry notebook. Thus he had a sunken, covered area by the touchline built, soon termed the 'dug-out', which would soon become a feature eventually in every ground in Britain.
Aberdeen's growing success in the 1950s brought further changes to Pittodrie. As cup finalists the year before, they recorded their largest gate, 45,061 for a Cup tie v Hearts on March 13th 1954. In the summer of 1958 a tall pitched cover was built at the eastern Beach End. This was followed by the erection of floodlights, first used on October 21st 1959 v Luton.
Pittodrie now had covering on three sides, with only the south side uncovered. In 1968 seats were installed the Main Stand paddock, providing 6,000 seats in a capacity of 45,000 and the for-bringer of the conversion that would soon occur.
The conversion began after a fire which devastated the eastern side of the Main Stand on February 6th 1971, and the club had to spend £140,000 to restore the damaged seats and roof. This work persuaded the club to increase the number of seats at Pittodrie by installing bench seats at the Merkland Road End, a gamble which proved so popular that the opposite Beach End was converted in 1973. The final area to be seated - thus making Pittodrie Britain's first all-seated ground - was the uncovered South Side in 1978. This brought the capacity down to 24,000, but confirmed that seating out in the open, particularly close to the sea, was hardly a comfortable experience. As a result, as the team's fortunes improved on the pitch, a cantilevered roof costing £750,000 was built in 1980 over the embankment, and a year later the bench seats were replaced by individual tip-up seats.
In another pioneering move, 24 executive boxes were installed in the Main Stand, which was followed by the re-roofing of the Merkland Road End in 1985 at a cost of £500,000. The laying of undersoil piping in 1987 cost £100,000.
By now Pittodrie held 22,568 during the club's most successful run in the 1980s, with numerous Premier League titles and the European Cup Winners triumph in 1983, but in February 1992 they unveiled plans for a £4.5 million, two-tier stand at the Beach End. The stand would dwarf the rest of the ground when it was opened by Princess Anne in August 1993.
As the club's fortunes fell, the ground has remained much the same since, and despite many proposals for a new stadium away from the difficult to reach site of Pittodrie, it remains the club's home.
The stadium is situated north-east of the city centre within a few hundred yards of the North Sea, with only the King's Links golf course between the ground and the sea. The main entrance is on Pittodrie Street to the north, with Merkland Street to the west. A gasometer which lay behind the south embankment has been replaced with new housing, and the only part of the stadium which is not hemmed in by buildings or roads is at the Beach End to the east. A large concourse between the back of the tall stand contains a statue of Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager during the successful run in the 1980s. The stadium can be seen best from the summit of Broad Hill to the south-east.
SOURCE: The Football Grounds of Britain - Simon Inglis